The present invention relates to a cartoning machine to enclose in boxlike containers a predetermined number of objects arranged on one or more rows. In particular the machine described and illustrated herein is of the type capable of enclosing containers of liquids such as bottles in cartons to be shipped and stored. Such machine, so-called rotatable cartoning machine by those skilled in the art, should operate in unison with filling and capping machines running at very high speed. Therefore, it is necessary that also the rotatable cartoning machine operates at the very high speed compatible with the feeding rate of the containers to be enclosed in cartons in order to avoid an undesirable slowing down in filling the cartons to be shipped.
The present invention seeks to provide a cartoning machine or, as mentioned above, a rotatable cartoning machine having a simple construction and a low cost and being able to meet the packing quickness required by industry today.
As well known to those skilled in the art, the packing of a variety of even different items with different size to be shipped and stored is performed in cardboard boxes. Therefore, such boxes have extremely varying size and capacity even for the same kind of products. As far as the present Patent Application is concerned that relates only by way of illustration to the packing of liquid containers such as bottles in cardboard boxes, it should be appreciated that a great variety of containers such as bottles for drinks, mineral water, fruit juice and the like as well as containers with or without handle containing detergents, cleansing agents and the like can be taken into consideration. It follows that a rotatable cartoning machine capable of operating only with such containers should be extraordinarily flexible to be adapted to the great variety of containers, bottles and the like used in the industry today and having, for example, a great variety of heights, shapes, size etc. above all with regard to containers for detergents, cleansing agents and the like which very often are provided with handle and/or dispensing devices causing their width to change in addition to the change in height due to the different capacities of the containers imposed by commercial requirements.